Injury leaves brass befuddled

Garrison was shut down and might need surgery to repair his labrum, the club said, despite a solid delivery, good conditioning and careful supervision.

"Welcome to the game of baseball," Grady Fuson, the Padres' director of player development, said Saturday.

The good news, Fuson said, is that Triple-A reliever Paul Abraham is the only pitcher in the six-club farm system who has needed arm surgery this season. "This would be only our second arm operation for a pitcher this year," Fuson said. "That's an incredible number, as in incredibly low."

Before Fuson joined the Rangers, he said 15 to 16 of the system's minor league pitchers were having arm surgery each year. He said he believes some of the preventive measures he put into place helped reduce that number by more than half, and have paid off since the Padres hired him in 2005.

But he said there is only so much pitching coaches and training staff can do to protect a pitcher.

"It's really confusing," he said of Garrison's detour. "Here's a guy who goes against the grain. He has a clean delivery. This guy has never had a 100-pitch performance. He's had a couple of eight-inning performances based on his pitch count being good. He never reported any shoulder problem … never.

"We had a little fatigue in the elbow a year ago in Lake Elsinore, but took some time off, and he's been fine all year."

Garrison, a left-hander in Double-A, was described by Padres General Manager Kevin Towers as the best pitcher on a San Antonio Missions staff that has led the Texas League in ERA by a large margin for most of the season.

The left-hander will be examined in San Diego this week.

Triple-A

Padres pitcher Jake Peavy said that if an opposing pitcher has a batting average above .200, he considers that pitcher a respectable hitter. Portland's Wade LeBlanc has batted .206 in 34 at-bats.

Double-A

At 21, first baseman Kyle Blanks is young for the Texas League, but the big right-hander is batting .313 with 17 home runs, 92 RBI and a .392 on-base percentage. ... Fuson confirmed that right-hander Matthew Buschmann's across-the-body delivery raises concerns about long-term durability but said it can be tricky to alter the mechanics, especially if the pitcher is having success.

Single-A

Fuson said that Lake Elsinore outfielder Kellen Kulbacki has recovered from a shoulder injury that put him on the disabled list. At the time, Kulbacki was batting .349 with 20 home runs and 16 doubles in 77 games. Teammate Cedric Hunter is capping a stellar season, batting .321 with 31 doubles and 10 home runs and solid defense in center field. Fuson said that Brian Joynt, a third-baseman/outfielder with the Storm, "has put himself on the map. He's running better than we've seen in the past. This guy went from obscurity to hitting .304 with some power in the Cal League." Peoria Padres outfielder Jaff Decker has yet to cool off; after 42 games, his on-base percentage is .524.